we're no strangers to love
by coleytaylor
Summary: The vampire clan switches over to email, and Simon seriously overestimates Raphael's knowledge of contemporary memes.


**A/N:** written for the the shadowhunterssummertimegiftfest 2016 for foggynelson on tumblr, and posted to ao3 8/5/2016. title from never gonna give you up by rick astley. beta'd by indigorose on tumblr through shadowhuntersbetas.

* * *

Getting the New York vampire clan to switch over to email is no easy task. They had this weird system of antiquated phones (and potentially also bat messengers? Simon's still not sure if Raphael was messing with him on that one) that must have been at least a hundred years old. So, while email isn't as hip and happening as it was in 2001, it's still a huge stride.

Making this switch has meant a pretty substantial promotion for Simon. Now he's not only ambassador to the werewolves, but also chief technology officer of the clan. It's also meant spending a _lot_ of time with Raphael. It doesn't matter that he knows nothing about installing internet routers; Raphael stands behind Simon the whole time to pester him with questions, or insist that he must be doing something wrong. Maybe it should be annoying, but... it isn't. Every surly comment of Raphael's makes Simon smile fondly into the wires in front of him, thankful for the omnipresent darkness of the hotel to hide his blush.

It's a shame Raphael wouldn't let him put the email addresses at , Simon thinks as he takes off his glasses and slides exhaustedly into bed. It's been a long day.

He checks his phone in the dark to see that he has a new email in his inbox, from Raphael. It's a reply to the test email Simon sent earlier that day. Boring.

Simon... _likes_ Raphael, but he's always so formal. So rigid. He could use a joke, Simon thinks. So he copies the link to a certain youtube video that he's had stored in his notes since ninth grade and pastes it into an email, titling the hyperlink "tips to shake up your emails." Then he backspaces, laughing quietly to himself, and replaces it with "a guide to email etiquette." Simon hits send, puts his phone and glasses on the night table, and falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.

Simon jerks awake what feels like minutes later to someone pounding on his door. You would think vampires need less sleep than humans, but he's been exhausted constantly since moving into Hotel Dumort. Maybe vampires are really meant to be sleeping in coffins all this time, or—

"Come in," he says, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. The door opens, and Raphael comes in, flipping on the lights and standing at the foot of Simon's bed. He's wearing pajamas that look like they should be on display in one of those creepy old houses you can take a tour of in Midtown, and his hair is sticking up in the back. It would be almost adorable if it wasn't 1:30 in the morning.

"What's up?" Simon asks, sitting up and putting on his glasses. "Is something wrong?"

Raphael ignores his questions. "I didn't know you felt this way," he says. Simon still isn't used to how damn serious he is all the time. Also, he has no idea what Raphael is talking about.

"I don't..."

"Why did you send me this instead of telling me to my face?" Raphael asks, holding his phone up like that's supposed to clarify something. He doesn't give Simon a chance to get a word in edgewise. "You were too nervous to tell me how you feel? You had to do it through this video?"

It clicks. It clicks and Simon laughs and laughs, because he doesn't have to see what's on Raphael's phone screen to know that he's talking about Rick Astley's _Never Gonna Give You Up_. And this is ridiculous, really, because why did he think Raphael would get the joke? Hotel Dumort is not exactly a pop culture hotbed.

He needs to... deal with this. Fix things. Because this is his boss, and his only friend in a hotel full of literal monsters.

He turns his head up to gauge Raphael's reaction, judge how best to defuse this bomb. Except, Raphael doesn't seem outraged? A little indignant, maybe, but that could also just be his resting face.

"What's so funny?" he asks, and yeah, this is definitely indignation now.

So Simon explains. Raphael listens intently to the meme's history, nodding at all the right places. There's a sixty-three percent chance Simon is imagining this, but Raphael looks disappointed by the time he's done.

Raphael mumbles an apology for waking him up, and starts to walk away.

"Raphael, wait!" Simon says, throwing off his blankets and getting up off the bed. Raphael turns around, almost in slow motion, and Simon thought vampires only had super speed. He almost asks about it, but instead he says, softly, not sure if it's even loud enough for Raphael to hear, "What if it had been for real?"

Simon has never been so grateful for vampire hearing. He can hear every beat of Raphael's pounding heart, the way his breath catches suddenly in his throat when he meets Simon's eyes.

It's not a gamble when Simon takes a step closer to Raphael. It's a thoughtful maneuver, one that has very good odds of paying off.

It does. Raphael smiles one of his rare smiles, and his incisors glint almost comically in the low light. Simon knows exactly how sharp they are, exactly how the smooth enamel will feel on his fingertips, but he wants to reach out and touch them anyway. He tentatively brings his hand to Raphael's face, waiting to be pushed away. But he isn't.

Simon gently touches Raphael's incisors, and suddenly that's not enough. He wants to run his tongue over them, and Raphael is leaning in, and this is looking increasingly more possible.

Raphael kisses like a predator, sharp and hot and powerful. Simon probably kisses like someone who's gotten two hours of sleep and also wasn't that good at kissing in the first place, but it doesn't seem to matter.

Simon breaks the kiss, pulling away an inch or two and blinking a couple of times. "Not that I'm not enjoying this, but I'm really fucking tired."

Raphael laughs softly.

"I'm going to, um. Go to bed. To sleep. You could... come?"

Raphael seems just as happy to watch Simon flounder as he is to hear his invitation. He nods, and they get into bed.

It's tempting to stay awake and listen to Raphael's slow, even breaths, but Simon tries to get some sleep. The email program is scheduled to roll out to the rest of the vampire clan in the morning, and dealing with that even on a full night's rest promises to be quite an ordeal.


End file.
